12-14 Newsmaker.FINALrev 8/9/06 7:15 PM Page 2 in the news your AD/HD better? NEWSMAKER LIDIA ZYLOWSKA, M.D. Not quite.The meditation ses- sions are important practice, but How to Focus a Wandering Mind the key is to use mindfulness throughout your daily life, What’s the core issue of AD/HD? For many always being aware of where your attention is focused while adults and children with the condition, it’s you are engaged in routine activities. For example, you paying attention. So it stands to reason might notice while you drive that some kind of “attention training” that your attention wanders to an errand you must run later would be just what the doctor ordered. that day. Lots of people practice mindfulness while eating. Once Well, there is such a thing. It’s been you get used to checking in with yourself and your body, around for thousands of years, and it’s you can apply the technique now a hot research topic at the UCLA anytime you start to feel over- whelmed. Mindful Awareness Research Center. Can I learn to practice Recently, ADDitude’s Carl Sherman, mindfulness on my own? Yes, the basic practice is very Ph.D., spoke with psychiatrist Lidia simple. Just sit down in a com- Zylowska, M.D., who heads the fortable place where you won’t be disturbed and spend five center’s AD/HD program. minutes focusing on the sensa- tion of breathing in and breath- ing out—pay attention to how “Mindful awareness” How can mindfulness nique user-friendly. Our eight- it feels when your stomach rises sounds spiritual. Is it? help people with AD/HD? week program consists of week- and falls. Soon, you may notice Mindful awareness, or mindful- It improves your ability to con- ly two-and-a-half-hour training that you’re thinking of some- ness, is part of many religious trol your attention. In other sessions, plus at-home practice. thing else—your job or some traditions. For example, words, it teaches you to pay We start with five-minute, seat- noise you just heard or your Buddhism features a form of attention to paying attention. ed meditations at home each plans for later in the day. Label mindfulness meditation known Mindful awareness can also day, and gradually work up to these thoughts as “thinking,” as vipassana. make people more aware of 15 or 20 minutes. We also give and refocus your attention on But mindfulness is not their emotional state, so they the option to practice longer or your breath. necessarily religious or spiritual. won’t react impulsively.That’s to substitute mindful walking Do this daily. Every couple It involves paying close atten- often a real problem for people for the seated meditation. of weeks, increase the length of tion to your thoughts, feelings, with AD/HD. We use visual aids, like a time you spend on the exer- and bodily sensations; in other Researchers have talked picture of a cloudy sky, to cise—10 minutes, 15, up to 20 words, developing a greater about using mindfulness for explain the basic concepts, or more if you feel you can.Try awareness of what’s going on AD/HD for some time, but the because people with AD/HD the same thing throughout each with you from moment to question was always whether tend to be visual learners.The day, focusing on your breath for moment. people with AD/HD could blue sky represents the space of a few minutes as you walk from It can be used as a tool to really do it, especially if they’re awareness, and the clouds repre- place to place, or when you’re foster wellness, especially psy- hyperactive. sent all the thoughts, feelings, stopped at a red light or sitting chological well-being. Similar and sensations that pass by. at the computer. techniques have been used to How does your center lower blood pressure and to teach the practice of That’s it? You do some- What if you just can’t manage chronic pain, anxiety, mindful awareness? thing for just a few min- keep your mind focused? and depression. We’ve tried to make the tech- utes a day, and it makes Will the exercise still do 1412 www.additudemag.comwww.additudemag.com 12-14 Newsmaker.FINALrev 8/9/06 7:15 PM Page 3 any good? very promising.We observed sig- sus that that’s the case, although asked to rate their overall satis- It’s the nature of the mind to be nificant improvements in both the program would have to be faction with it, they rated it an distracted. Mindful awareness inattention and hyperactivity. modified for young children. In average of nine out of 10. And isn’t about staying with the In cognitive tests, the par- fact, there is one mindfulness the participants’ comments breath, but about returning to ticipants got better at staying program that’s designed just for were mostly positive. Adults the breath.That’s what enhances focused, even when different preschool and elementary said things like, “I feel that I your ability to focus. things were competing for their school children [innerkids.org], better understand what goes on And this emphasis on re- attention. Many of them also felt and it has been quite successful. in my head, and I’m less critical shifting your attention, of out- less anxious and depressed by The program has yet to be used of myself, less reactive, and witting the mind’s natural ten- the end of study. specifically for children who more forgiving of myself.” dency to wander, is what makes But keep in mind that this have AD/HD, but we plan to do One teenager said, “Now, us think this technique could be study is only a first step into future studies with them, and whenever I feel my mind wan- especially helpful to someone understanding the effectiveness with AD/HD adolescents and dering, I’m able to realize that who has AD/HD. of this approach. More research adults. it’s wandering. I can let go of is still needed to the feeling and stop giving in It sounds logical, but just confirm these What did the to distractions.” how effective is it? early findings. FIND OUT study partici- We just completed a study MORE pants think of Does scientific evidence involving 25 adults and eight Can children mindful aware- support the effect of practice mind- Read about other adolescents, half of whom had movers and shakers in ness? Did they mindful awareness on the combined [both inattentive ful awareness? the AD/HD world at think it worked? the brain? and hyperactive] form of There seems to be additudemag.com/ Most stuck with the Researchers have shown that, AD/HD, and the results were a growing consen- newsmaker.asp. program, and, when compared with people who AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2006 >> ADDitude 13 12-14 Newsmaker.FINALrev 8/9/06 7:15 PM Page 4 don’t meditate, long-time medi- reduce one’s need for you can download three mp3s you through a mindful aware- tators have different EEG and AD/HD medication? recorded by Diana Winston, the ness exercise. MRI patterns, particularly in the We didn’t specifically measure mindfulness trainer from our There are also several good brain’s frontal region—the this effect in our study because program. In each, she’ll lead books on mindfulness medita- Tibetan region that is involved with we did not manage our partici- tion. I recommend Wisdom for Western Life AD/HD. Another study found a pants’ medications. Only about To practice mindful ,by rise in the level of the neuro- half of our participants were tak- awareness, just sit Joseph Arpaia, M.D., and transmitter dopamine during ing stimulant medication, and Lobsang Rapgay, Ph.D., (Beyond Full the benefits they reported were down in a comfort- Words Publishing) and Catastrophe Living Do you use a particular similar to those reported by par- able place where , by Jon technique to re-focus your ticipants who were not taking Kabat-Zinn (Piatkus Books). stimulants. We hope that, by you won’t be dis- The Center for Mindfulness attention when your at the University of Massachu- mind wanders? practicing mindfulness, one can turbed and spend learn to better self-regulate and, five minutes focus- setts has been offering mindful- over time, lower the need for ness-based stress reduction E-mail [email protected] or go medication. But we need to ing on the sensa- classes for more than two online to additudemag.com/letters.asp. study this question further. decades.You can find a directory tion of breathing of trainers on its Web site, meditative states. Lowered levels Where can I learn in and breathing umassmed.edu/cfm/mbsr.The of dopamine have been found more about mindful UMass program is designed for regularly in people with awareness? out—pay attention stress-related conditions and is AD/HD. If you’d like an expert to guide to how it feels not adapted to AD/HD, but it you through the process, visit when your stomach has a similar eight-week struc- Is there any evidence the “Mindful Meditations” page ture and is a good way to learn that mindfulness can at www.marc.ucla.edu.There, rises and falls. the technique. 14 www.additudemag.com.